Ricciardo admits Spa not the challenge it was

Daniel Ricciardo has admitted that some of the thrill of racing around the Belgian Grand Prix venue has been lost in recent years.

The eight-time F1 winner suggested improvements in car design and changes in the interest of safety have conspired to dull the excitement.

The Spa-Francorchamps circuit has proved one of the most dangerous on the calendar, with two drivers having lost their lives at the venue in recent years.

Anthoine Hubert was killed in a Formula 2 race in 2019 following a crash at Radillon, while last year Dilano van’t Hoff lost his life in similar circumstances while racing in the Formula Regional European Championship.

Changes have been made to the circuit, with barriers at Eau Rouge and Raidillon gradually pushed back over the decades.

“It’s still an exciting track,” Ricciardo began.

“It’s one of those ones where we’ve all driven a lot of times now, so just naturally you’re not as excited as the first time you ever drove there and did Eau Rouge.

“In dry conditions, Eua Rouge, sorry, it’s pretty easy now. But Spa rains probably 50 percent of the time, and in the wet, Eau Rouge is a freaking scary corner. It’s a real corner.

“So it depends on the water. If it’s an easy, sunny, dry weekend, yeah, Eau Rouge isn’t the corner we talk about; it’s Pouhon, really.

“That one is a real corner,” he added.

“It’s seventh [gear], probably with a little lift in quali.

“So is it still a great circuit? It is.

“But maybe the challenges 20 years ago, maybe there was three or four challenges on the track. Maybe now there’s two.”

Part of that is down to changes made to improve safety, with tarmac run-off areas in key locations reducing the impact of a mistake – and encouraging drivers to risk more.

While understanding the historical importance of some of the circuit’s locations, Ricciardo supports the changes.

“I know they’ve made changes, and that’s the thing. It’s because there has been some terrible accidents there,” he said specifically of the Eau Rouge/Radillon sequence.

“This corner is iconic and whatever, but do we want it to be an extremely dangerous corner and every Sunday that there’s a race we feel like something could happen? No.

“That’s just how the times have gone.

“And look, the corner’s still fun. It’s not nothing and, if you are in the race, maybe tucked in someone’s slipstream, holding it flay in dirty air with less downforce it’s still kind of scary in a fun way.

“But trying to push all the barriers away I think at that sort of corner, and with a track that does get mixed conditions, I think it’s the right thing.”

Ricciardo won the Belgian Grand Prix at Spa-Francorchamps in 2014, heading Nico Rosberg and Valtteri Bottas.

Track action for this weekend’s event begins on Friday at 13:30 local time (21:30 AEST).